When I was just a small kid, My father, who enjoyed working with wood
but hated anything to do with the water, built me a boat. Actually
just an 8' pram. But I spent many hours learning to sail it and then
many more enjoyable days sailing it around the small bay behind our
home. One summer, when I was about 12. I painted a few houses in the
area and earned enough to buy a used sunfish. What an upgrade that was
from the little pram! With the sunfish I got my first taste of racing
and eventually moved on to larger boats, although I could never
afford one of my own. During college, I raced 505's and we did quite
well. After college I had my first real job and my first major
purchase was not a car (I had a Vespa scooter) I purchased a capri
25 racing boat, this was before Catalina turned their line of boats
into a plastic boat for the family. Eventually I got married and put
the boating on hold for awhile to raise a couple of kids who seemed to
have about as much interest in watersports as my dad did. However I
did manage to obtain a 32' Pearson which I kept for several years. I
cruised Maggie Mae along the Atlantic Coast and over to the Bahamas
on several occasions. Finally doing a solo trip to Bermuda. Where I
live in Florida, marinas were being turned in condominiums with
private docks. The cost of the few remaining boat slips was
skyrocketing, so I sold Maggie Mae. I haven't owned a boat for several
years now. However, alongside a house near our neighborhood, sits a
18' Compac on a trailer. It hasn't moved in two years. This morning
when I drove by there was a for sale sign up on the
boat....................................